


Light Through the Rain

by alba17



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fix-It, Kissing, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 11:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7800967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alba17/pseuds/alba17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Under the Wakandan rain, the first glimmer of a new life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light Through the Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a prompt at comment_fic on LJ, which I can't find any more, but it was something about kissing in the rain.

“Buck, come on, it’s starting to rain.” Steve tugs on Bucky’s arm. A drumbeat of plump raindrops wets the lush foliage, steadily quickening. It’s like this every day when they meander the palace grounds, rarely encountering another soul: their very own botanical garden. 

“Hold up.” Bucky stands stock still. “Look.” He turns his face to the sun shining through the clouds, shooting light through the rain and giving the garden a strange, otherworldly air. “It’s like we’re caught between two worlds.” His eyes widen, a child caught in surprise; an impossibility that makes the breath catch in Steve’s throat.

“Accurate,” he murmurs, failing to mask his bitterness.

Bucky gives a rueful chuckle. “Yeah.” 

Steve realizes it more each day, how both of them have lived as if caught between two worlds, the past and the present, fantasy and reality, the life they’d hoped for and the one they’d been dealt.

Bucky catches his hand. He threads their fingers together and Steve’s chest clenches like it does every time. He’s not quite used to the ease with which they can do this.

Bucky continues. “It’s weird but I feel like this place is good for me. There’s nothing we’re supposed to do, nowhere we have to be. I finally feel like I’m starting to get a handle on who I am again.”

Steve’s thumb rubs the inside of Bucky’s palm. A small smile plays on his lips.

Lost in thought, Bucky casts his eyes downward. “I can actually look at things. Really see stuff.” He shifts his gaze back to the abundant vegetation. “I could never do that before. There was never time. I was always under orders, on a mission, being the Soldier.” He hesitates as a black and yellow butterfly flutters nearby. “Never myself.” The rain beats down a little harder, dampening their shoulders and hair. Steve ignores it, not wanting to interrupt Bucky’s train of thought.

Sometimes Bucky remembers something he’d rather forget and Steve fears this is one of those moments. These days, he needs a lot of space and Steve’s learned not to push. It’s hard after all the time he spent looking for Bucky and worrying about him, the risks he took to keep Bucky safe. All he wants to do is crush his old friend in a bear hug every single second of the day. They went through so much to get here. He still can’t get over the fact that they’re both here, alive and safe. 

In an instant, a big, open smile lights up Bucky’s face, the one Steve remembers from the old days. It warms him from the bottom up. Looking up at the sky, Bucky opens his mouth wide and lets the rain fall on him. He lets go of Steve’s hand and spreads his one arm out, then turns in a half circle, in a slightly unbalanced way that turns Steve’s gut, but still makes him grin at the child-like innocence of the gesture, the sheer openness of it, when everything Bucky’s gone through should make him curl up on the floor in a ball and hide his face forever. 

It makes Steve so happy. He’d do it all again in a heartbeat: refusing to sign the Accords, the fight with Tony and his team, running from the law, as long as it got them to this place, where Bucky feels safe enough to act like a kid again.

When Bucky sticks out his tongue to catch raindrops, Steve laughs. Still twirling in the rain, Bucky looks at him out of the corner of his eye, and like it’s catching, he laughs too, the sound bubbling up like a shaken-up bottle of soda. Rain wets his closed eyelids, splashes on his nose and cheeks. He looks heartbreakingly young, washed clean of the last seventy years, 

If only it were so easy.

Filled with emotion, Steve pulls Bucky towards him. Before he knows what he’s doing, he softly nuzzles the side of Bucky’s face, wet from the warm Wakandan rain. Bucky leans into the touch. Their faces slide against each other, familiar like the rub of old worn sheets yet sparking with the sheen of newness, of hot anticipation. 

Steve’s tongue darts out to capture a drop of rain sliding down the side of Bucky’s face. The tip of his tongue barely touches Bucky’s wet skin; the drop melts onto his tongue. He’s so grateful to be here with Bucky, whole, ready to start a new life.

His hand cups the back of Bucky’s neck, his fingers thrust into damp hair. Bucky’s jaw lures his mouth, the strong line demanding that he map a path of kisses down it.

Bucky draws in a sharp breath as Steve nears his mouth. He stiffens. Has Steve done the right thing? Then, the angle of Bucky’s torso changes, the tension eases. Steve’s mouth claims him, his lips possessively clamping over Bucky’s.

They melt together.

There’s always been a constant give and take between the two of them. Steve’s never been quite sure of where he stands. But right now, in this moment, with Bucky’s lips against his, tightly clasped in his embrace, nothing has ever felt so right.

The rain of Wakanda washes over them, cleansing them of the past, preparing them for the future. What it will bring, Steve has no idea. For now, there’s only this, Bucky’s mouth, the press of his arms and the thrill of hope it brings.


End file.
